Can The Washington Post ‘Google’ Anti-Jewish Incitement?

A July 27, 2017 Washington Postreport minimizes both Palestinian anti-Jewish violence and the Jewish people’s connection to their ancestral homeland, Israel (“New clashes erupt at holy site in Jerusalem”).

The dispatch, by Jerusalem bureau chief William Booth and reporter Ruth Eglash, is ostensibly about Palestinian attacks over the al-Aqsa mosque, which sits near the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. Yet—perhaps in keeping with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) media guidelines—the article fails to inform readers that the Temple Mount is the holiest site in Jewish religion and tradition.

Instead, Booth and Eglash blandly note “the esplanade on which al-Aqsa stands is considered holy by both Muslims, who call it the Noble Sanctuary, and by Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.” In addition to a false equivocation, this omits an important fact: the al-Aqsa mosque has only in recent years been referred to as the “third holiest site” in Islam.

As the historian Daniel Pipes highlighted in the Middle East Quarterly:

Jerusalem appears in the Jewish Bible 669 times and Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154 times, or 823 times in all. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion 7 times. In contrast, the columnist Moshe Kohn notes, Jerusalem and Zion appear as frequently in the Qur’an ‘as they do in the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita, the Taoist Tao-Te Ching, the Buddhist Dhamapada and the Zoroastrian Zend Avesta’—which is to say, not once (“The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem,” Sept. 2001).

Pipes noted that the importance of the al-Aqsa mosque in the Islamic faith is largely due to it being in a city controlled by non-Muslims. In fact, when under Muslim control, Jerusalem is often treated as a “backwater” by ruling Islamic authorities, according to Pipes.

The scholar also pointed out that the mosque’s prominence in recent Islamic traditions rests, in part, on the mistaken belief that it is the “furthest mosque” described in a Qu’ranic passage that was revealed in 621. However, at that time “furthest mosque was “a turn of phrase, not a place.” Further, “Palestine had not yet been conquered by the Muslims and contained not a single mosque.”

Chants unmentioned

The Post report also contained some selective quotations to match its misleading interpretation of history.

The paper noted that Palestinians celebrated Israeli authorities decision to remove metal detectors erected near the Temple Mount after a July 14, 2017 terror attack in which three Arab-Israelis murdered two Israeli policemen with weapons hidden in the mosque. The Post claimed that, “with news of the victory, Muslims flooded the 37-acre holy complex singing victory songs and chanting ‘God is great.’”

Yet, this was not the only phrase being chanted. As The Jerusalem Postnoted, one of the common Palestinian chants was “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud.” Translated, this means “Remember Khaybar, you Jews, the army of Muhammad is returning”—a reference to a battle and massacre of Jews in the seventh century.

The Post also cited Mohammed Hussein, who it identified as “Jerusalem’s Grand Mufti” and a “spiritual leader and custodian of the mosque.” Booth and Eglash state that Hussein “urged Muslims on Thursday to return to their shrine for worship, declaring the crisis over.” Yet, the paper neglects to inform its readers about Hussein’s history of calling for anti-Jewish violence.

As Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), a non-profit organization that monitors Arab media in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, has pointed out, this “spiritual leader” preached at the al-Aqsa mosque in 2010 that Jews are the “enemies of Allah.” In a Jan. 9, 2012 sermon show on official PA TV, Hussein quoted the hadith (sayings and actions attributed to Muhammad): “The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

The Post omits this while discussing the “custodian’s” comments. By contrast, it identifies a democratically elected Israeli politician, Naftali Bennett, as “hard-line.”

What’s old is wrong again

The paper also uncritically quoted the father of Omar al-Abed, a Palestinian who murdered three Israelis in Halamish on July 21, 2017—brutally stabbing them to death as they prepared for a shabbat dinner. Al-Abed’s father claimed that “a short video clip” on Al-Jazeera, which purports to show Israeli police officers kicking a “Palestinian kneeling on a prayer rug” drove his son to murder.

Yet, this is false. As The Post itself noted in a July 25 dispatch (“A young Palestinian vowed to die a martyr, then stabbed 3 members of an Israeli family to death”), al-Abed’s own comments on Facebook prior to the attack—which included calling Jews “pigs and monkeys”—suggest that he was committing murder, in part, due to the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) employment of the so-called al-Aqsa libel. As CAMERA has stated, this is the lie, often propagated by Palestinian leaders that Jews seek to “destroy,” “defile,” or “change the status-quo” at the Temple Mount. It often precedes violence (“The Battle Over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,” July 24, 2017).

In The Post’s July 25, 2017 report, Jerusalem bureau chief Booth pointed out that al-Abed’s Facebook post stated “All I have is a sharpened knife and it answers for al-Aqsa,” and al-Abed’s father claimed “All of us would die for al-Aqsa” and that many Palestinians “support” his son because “what he did was for al-Aqsa.” That article also noted—with skepticism—claims by al-Abed’s father that his son purposefully spared children in the July 21, 2017 attack, pointing out that “Survivors of the attack said Abed did no such thing.”

This raises the question: Why did The Post decide to suddenly omit this crucial information about the al-Aqsa libel, and to treat al-Abed’s father as a reliable source? Whatever the reason, it’s a clear failure of journalistic due diligence.

More snark, less journalism

Similarly, treating Al-Jazeera uncritically is another marked failure. As CAMERA has documented, Al-Jazeera is a tool of the state of Qatar. It frequently disregards accuracy, incites anti-Jewish violence, and, not coincidentally, attacks enemies of the Qatari state. As the analyst and journalist Clifford May noted in a July 25, 2017 Washington Times article:

“Among Al Jazeera’s brightest TV stars is Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the ‘spiritual leader’ of the Muslim Brotherhood. He has praised Imad Mughniyah, the Hezbollah terrorist mastermind behind the 1983 suicide bombings in Beirut, in which 241 U.S. Marines were killed. He once issued a fatwa, a religious opinion, calling for the ‘abduction and killing of Americans in Iraq.’”

“Sheikh Qaradawi favors the ‘spread of Islam until it conquers the entire world and includes both the East and West [marking] the beginning of the return of the Islamic Caliphate.’ Hitler, he has said, deserves praise for having ‘managed to put [Jews] in their place. This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hands of the [Muslims] (“Al Jazeera Should Be Ended”).’”

Yet, instead of highlighting Al-Jazeera’s documented history (noted in U.S. Congressional testimony, among elsewhere) of inciting violence and praising terrorism—or discussing the fact that its master Qatar is a state-sponsor of U.S.-designated terror groups, including the Palestinian Hamas—The Post treated Israeli claims that the outlets was used for “incitement” with unveiled derision.

Citing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s vow to shut down the Jerusalem office of Al-Jazeera, “for broadcasting images of what he called incitement,” The Post wrote:

“Netanyahu’s [press] bureau declined to give specific examples of the Al Jazeera content that might have stoked tensions. Asked for a specific example, a communications adviser in Netanyahu’s office suggested that reporters scroll through Google.”

This snarky—and unprofessional—delivery omits a key reality that The Washington Post ignores: Examples of anti-Jewish incitement, by Al Jazeera, by Palestinian leaders (“spiritual” and otherwise), and others, are abundant. CAMERA has documented them before—including in correspondence sent to The Post. They are easily found via Google, on websites like CAMERA’s, PMW’s, and elsewhere. Yet, many major U.S. news outlets, The Post foremost among them, neglect to report them. The paper’s July 27, 2017 report, with all of its lack of self-awareness, is a fine example.

CAMERA Author

Sean DurnsSenior Research AnalystSean Durns is a Senior Research Analyst for the Washington D.C. office of CAMERA. With a background in the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, he worked for several think tanks and for a former high-ranking Pentagon official before joining CAMERA. His articles regularly appear in a variety of media outlets, including The Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Hill, The Jerusalem Post, and The Washington Jewish Week.